


So Much To Lose

by orphan_account



Category: Inanimate Insanity (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Knife (mentioned) - Freeform, The mic/soap is low rn but I promise it comes in later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:35:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25681411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Taco has to face the consequences of her actions in the aftermath of her confrontation with Mic.
Relationships: Microphone & Taco (Inanimate Insanity), Microphone/Soap (Inanimate Insanity)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	1. Guilt

“Surely it couldn’t have been nothing-” 

The rapid clicking of Mic lowering her gain sounded like a sickening crack through her headset. Taco’s heart dropped, fidgeting with her only line of communication with Mic, without having to run into a field of contestants and hosts who despised her, hoping that it was a tech issue, a malfunction.

She knew it wasn’t, deep down, she had heard Mic disconnect from her before, knew that she would have no way to make her listen to what she had to say in return to her confrontation. But it didn’t stop her from trying to fix her connection.

She wanted to defend herself, say how Pickle never had any issue with her actions until the finale, she didn’t set out to hurt him, it was just the nature of the game. Nothing personal.

But I made it personal.

She thought, a wrench shoving its way into her chest, remembering her last conversation with Pickle, tearing down any hope in him that she cared, now or then. How the look on his face had dropped in an instant.

She could imagine that same look of dumbfounded confusion, mixed with sadness, and in her case guilt, plastered across her face. But this hurt so much more than when she lashed out a Pickle.

Taco had known that she would break away from Pickle at the end of the game. Win or lose, she had no intentions of sharing her winnings with the sad excuse for a vegetable. She had been prepared to cut the line, albeit only if she won.

And it would have been a perfect send-off indeed! No revealing her tactics, no pain caused (directly) by her, all Taco had to say was she was going to grab a gift for him, or go buy them food for a picnic with her newfound riches, then disappear into the forest.

It didn’t matter what he would have thought of her after that, because she’d be so far away he’d have no hope of contacting her anyway. It was simple. It was clean. And of course nothing can ever be simple.

Taco never had a plan for what to do if she lost to make a clean getaway. She had no clue how the money would be handed over, where the finished line would be in relation to the woods, so she winged it. 

Maybe it was her anger at a plan not paying off.

Okay scratch that - It was DEFINITELY anger at her plan not paying off, and in the moment the fit of rage felt right, making sure the idiot knew she never associated with him in any way past a tactic, that he never knew her, that they weren't friends. 

Yet it still didn’t hurt. Not in the way she did now.

Because when she dropped Pickle, even in the worst of circumstances, it was inevitable. Part of how she was playing the game.

She never actually intended to drop Mic. Not anymore.

When she was picking out a contestant to be her puppet she did, admittedly, consider how easy it would be to leave them in the dust and take the whole prize and yet… By the time they were found out by Knife she threw the idea away.

Yet at the same time, Taco realizes, she never made that clear to Mic. That she had any intention to be more honest. Sure she said she would, yet she never followed up on it.

She kept her temptations to fix the past with Pickle in the lab to herself, belittled Mic constantly. Because she had to!

Taco thought that if she had made herself more vulnerable, abandoning her facade and goals Mic would just assume she was pulling the same stunt as last season. Keeping up being what everyone thought she was, a manipulating, lying and brash cheater just came with the package.

All the plans she had presented to Mic had been altered by Mic herself, to be less direct, less violent. Somehow Taco never noted that. Never saw that as refusal rather than adaptation.

Taco gulped with that realization. 

Mic did give her a chance to change, every challenge. A chance to play unfairly yet nice at the same time.

This last challenge I did the one thing she told me not to, I ruined my last chance.

It was at that point that Taco noticed how heavy she was breathing, how fast her heart was beating. She was alone now, honestly and truly.

She always had a chance to talk someone into trusting her before, to gain that. She had a chance to gain Mic’s trust.

Now with Knife the only one left on the field with insight on her, she knew no one would be willing to help her, hell, even talk to her.

“I became what they thought I was.”

Taco made a B-line for the elimination podium, Mic would be safe this challenge, maybe when she left she could talk to her, apologize, for everything she did.

To her. To Pickle.

Taco walked up to Mic smiling at Knife and saying goodbye.

Saying goodbye but she’s-

And she walked through the portal, Taco’s jaw was dropped but she couldn’t tell. Her face was the epitome of guilt in the way her eyes dilated smaller and her eyebrows scrunched.

Everyone was going to leave the area soon, and see her like this.

She needed to go. 

She needed to think.

Taco entered coordinates to the center of perilous forest into Mepad, and sent herself teleporting away.

She could see Hotel OJ in the distance from the tree they both landed in, Taco struggling to pull the unconscious Mepad up onto a branch.

Taco needed a third plan, but this time, it wouldn’t have anything to do with the show.


	2. Relief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mic arrives at Hotel OJ, the welcome could have been worse.

Mic wasn’t sure what to expect as she stepped foot in Hotel OJ for the first time. She knew the show couldn’t possibly be aired live, especially considering the… peculiar nature of the latest challenge.

What she did know though was that she was being followed in by a wildly angry scientist and her best friend, neither of which could have nice opinions of her after what just happened. With her being responsible for their elimination, in a way.

The moment all three of them made it through the portal, it dissipated with the same otherworldly noise it appeared with, changing the room they had all stepped into’s color from a pink glow, to a comparably duller orange. 

Mic didn’t want to turn around to face TestTube, she had had enough defiance for one night. While Knife was right in sensing her relief, Mic doubted the feeling would last long. 

“Is that what you said to Pickle.”

She could still feel the words ring in her throat, deadpan delivery and all. She didn’t want to leave Taco, if you had asked her at the beginning of the show Mic was sure she’d have scoffed at the idea of her ever abandoning someone already so alone.

Now she could see why no one bothered to interact with the British recluse, though it wasn’t like she made it easy to get in contact anyway, lurking in the forest and all.

It was the right choice though. Taco was changing, Mic still believed that. But in order for that change to really happen she needed to be separated from the game. Something about it made Taco take actions Mic would never imagine herself doing in a million years.

But you never told her that, you could have fought back sooner maybe she would have sto-

“Microphone.”

pped, maybe we could have been frie-

“Mic, yoohoo! Backstabber!”

“Ah!”

Microphone flinched back as she finally realized TestTube snapping her fingers in front of her face, trying to catch her attention.

“I have no clue how someone as spaced out as you managed to be as menacing a geebweezer as you were. You know what, NO. As menacing as you are.”

“It… It wasn’t what you think, I promise it will make sense later, I just need some time to rest.”

“Sure, that’s what they all say.”

“Who else have you assumed to murder you? When has that ever come up before?”

“So you admit it.” TestTube victoriously declared.

“I said assumed, but you seem dead set in believing this, so go ahead, I guess.”

TestTube was about to throw another retort Mic’s way before they all turned to see another figure enter the room. And what a room to enter into, as OJ looked absolutely dumbfounded.

“Okay I have a lot of questions.” the breakfast beverage mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

“First off, which of the hosts decided it was a good idea to send me contestants at 5 in the morning? You know what. Don’t answer that, I know it was Mephone.”

OJ let out a quick sigh before trying to up his attitude, albeit it felt incredibly forced.

“Well, anyway, welcome to Hotel OJ! Since you both got booted at the same time, you’ll be sharing a room together, so if you just follo-”

“Absolutely not! If it wasn’t for that Honyak I’d still be out there with Lightbulb!” TestTube shouted, aggressively stepping towards Mic.

“Whoa now break it up!” Oj stepped between Mic and TestTube “I don’t care how much you hate each other, rules are rules. If I don’t change them for Trophy complaining about the sick one, they don’t change for you.”

“What if she justs tays with me and PB? We’re all pals after all!” Fan awkwardly butted in, not wanting his friend to start a fight in the place they both had to live for who knows how long.

OJ thought for a second “Okay… If they agree to it, but after that there’s no room changing, so whatever they decide, make sure they know not to complain to me if they regret it.”

After discussing how TestTube would fit in the already packed room with OJ, Fan led TestTube away, with a few more death glares pointed Mic’s way, for good measure.

Mic spaced out again as OJ gave her the tour of the hotel, the portal had dropped her off on one of the middle floors, so they started with her room and worked down from there.

They didn’t pass by anyone else, though it sounded like some of the other residents might be stirring for TestTube’s outburst at her, judging by mumbling through the doors. 

The tour ended at the first floor, which was a large open area, save for a few support beams and walls. Half of the floor seemed to be a hangout area, tables, chairs, beanbags, and other areas to interact with others scattered her surroundings.  
The other half was a fairly large kitchen, along with an island to sit and eat at, there Mic saw the first object other than OJ in the hotel, Paper, who was making two cups of tea, Oj wished her well, and walked off to join him.

Seeing as the tour was over, Mic turned to head back to her room, before another object in the room caught her eye.

She had almost missed him, the way he was slumped down into the couch. He was a dark green vegetable, and Mic knew this had to be Pickle.

Not one to abandon a promise, Mic started walking towards the couch to pass on Knife’s hello.

It was a good idea to introduce herself anyways, once the episode aired later in the day and everyone saw her quitting, there’d be questions. If Mic wanted to sort out the Taco situation by then, she’d have to talk to Pickle at some point.

Coming to the front of the couch, Mic noticed a picture of Pickle and Taco having a picnic.

How did anyone take that photo, Mic wondered. If he was being used like I was it would be under the rug, a secret.

You don’t actually know what exactly Taco did in season one, she realized.

Maybe Pickle was a completely different type of pawn.

“Uh, Hey.” Mic said to Pickle, who hadn’t even glanced at her yet.

Pickle responded, deadpan “If you’re here to ask about the photo I’m not answering any of your questions.”

“What, no? Knife wanted to say hi.” Mic replied, sounding a little offended.

Whatever Taco did, it couldn’t have been good to make him not even want to mention it.

“Oh, uh, neat.” Pickle said, his tone immediately becoming lighter “You’re Mic, right?”

“Yeah!” Mic smiled, happy to see that Pickle at least seemed somewhat content here, regardless of what went down in season one.

“So why does science class hate your guts, if you don’t mind me asking.”

Mic blanked for a second, now probably wasn’t the time to mention Taco, especially not with the person she’d tried to rob not even a room away.

“Oh, uh.” She sighed “The challenge was nuts and lots of unexpected things happened and-”

She struggled for the right words for a second.

“I… Enabled someone to hurt her, and Fan, but she doesn’t know so she assumes it was me. I don’t have the guts to throw the other person under the bus right now.”

“So… Someone else did something that made her despise you, and you feel too bad about it to out them?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Well, I’ve got time, maybe later?”

“Yeah, that would be nice.” Mic smiled, she was about to ask pickle what game he was playing before something rammed into her side.

“MICCCCC!!!!”

Before she knew it, Mic was being tightly hugged by Soap, who was tearing up a little bit.

“Hey, what’s wrong??” Mic asked, as she moved to hug Soap back.

“You’re eliminated, that’s what’s wrong, you were gonna follow your heart right to victory, I could feel it!”

Mic chuckled as they stepped out of the hug “It just wasn’t meant to be, I’m happy to see you again though.”

“Hey, you already know Soap, cool!” Pickle said from the couch “One more to add to the gamer gang.”

“The what?”

“Sit down and we’ll tell you.” Soap said while laughing.

And so Mic did, and it was nice, the first time she didn’t have to think about the game or Taco for months. It was calming and safe.

She could talk out everything later, after the episode aired and the hotel buzz around who had been booted died down.

For now, this was good.


	3. Hesitance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mic confides in Soap

Mic hung out with Soap and Pickle downstairs through the afternoon. She and Soap shared stories from the game, while Pickle continuously beat them at some street fighting game.

Mic wanted to ask Pickle if he had anything he wanted to share from the first season, but opted not to. If Soap wasn’t encouraging him to do so, it probably wasn’t the best idea.

By about two pm, Mic’s tiredness was catching up to her. She passed over her controller to Soap and yawned.

“I’m gonna catch up on some sleep, Mephone set the last challenge at an ungodly time in the morning.”

A half-truth, Mic doubted Mephone had any idea that the last challenge would involve abduction and spacecraft, but she was tired nonetheless.

“Alrighty, you coming down to watch the episode later?” Soap replied

Mic didn’t reply, but the way she grit her teeth and slowly shook her head told Soap everything she needed to know.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, most contestants don’t want to see themselves get voted out. You should have seen all the fits of anger Nickel went through each time someone wanted to rewatch the episode he got out in.”

“Phew, that’s good to know, g’night though. Or- Is it good afternoon? Good nap?”

Soap chuckled “Go get some rest you goober.”

Mic nodded and began making her way up the stairs. Almost everyone was down in the lobby or in their own rooms, though she did wave YinYang a hello. Yin reached his hand up to respond, before Yang started yelling at him to stop being so friendly.

Before an all out fight began between the two broke out, Cherries came by, and led them off. Mic made a mental note to be careful when talking to YinYang.

When Mic entered her room it looked almost exactly the same as when OJ had shown it to her before, save for a few decorations being added to the nightstand. The clock was actually plugged in, unlike before, where the electric display stood silent (no use wasting power, Mic guessed).

The other difference was a picture of the grand slams, judging from the players missing it must have been taken around episode eight.

Mic admired the picture for a moment, before setting it back on the table, and climbing into her bed. The episodes air around seven o’clock, so Mic hoped she would wake up from her nap before anyone came to her room asking questions.

Afterall, it wasn’t like anyone had just quit the game before, especially considering how vague her statements were on why she was doing so. She guessed Marshmallow had also quit, but there was still no sign of the gravity defying contestant, so one could only guess.

Mic decided it was best not to dwell on it, laid down, and felt her body almost immediately give in to the first mattress she’d slept on in months.

\-------------------------------------------

When she woke up, it felt like she’d gotten no rest at all, though it probably didn’t help that she was being shaken awake either.

“Wh- what?”

“You QUIT?” Mic could hear Soap ask, entirely too loudly. She sat up in her bed, mumbling.

“Why!!?” Soap continued questioning.

“Calm down, I’ll tell you - just shut the door, please.”

Soap did as Mic asked, taking deep breaths to calm herself down as she did so. It was at that moment that Mic realized she had no idea how to tell Soap what had happened.

It was Soap, after all. Since parting with Taco she’s the person Mic trusts most, they’re friends. Mic was worried that if she didn’t word this just perfectly, maybe they wouldn’t be anymore.

She didn’t even realize how heavily she was breathing until Soap brought her arm to her back to stable Mic.

“Hey, sorry I kinda freaked there, but seriously what happened?”  
“I…” Mic took a deep breath in to steady herself “I’m gonna need you not to freak because I made a lot of bad decisions after you left. None of which I’m proud of.”

Soap nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“During that filler episode, before all the garbage that went down in the maze, I went into perilous forest to have some alone time.” Mic withheld the part about wanting to write in her diary, after Taco’s breach of her privacy, she had decided that was on a need to know basis. The only person that needed to know being her.

“I met Taco.” She heard Soap take a quick breath in, but continued her sentence before she could interject. “She.. Offered me help, for a fair price, and after you left I didn’t really have any ‘friends’ in the game so when the challenge rolled around… I agreed.”

Soap’s expression was hard to read, it was stuck somewhere between confusion, anger, and pity. “I don’t know much about Taco, Pickle has dropped me a few tidbits here and there about how she ‘used to be’ but besides that everyone in the hotel seems to avoid mentioning her, especially OJ. It’s strange. Especially since half the time Pickle isn’t even nearby.”

“I knew she had cheated last season, from what Knife told me and all the horrible things Balloon said about her early on but beyond that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”

“Sort of like Balloon and Suitcase’s situation then?”

“Yeah! I knew she was bad, and she made bad choices, that much was easy to know just from interacting with her. I mean. We were actively cheating. But besides that she seemed sincere.”

“I thought I’d give her a chance to change, or at the very least have a friend.”

Soap smiled “That’s a nice gesture, but judging by how solemn you’ve been this whole time I take it it didn’t go well?”

“That’s one way to say it I guess.” Mic replied.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, hell, Balloon who was arguably way tamer than her had his moments of pure rudeness but every chance I gave her to make up a plan that didn’t involve hurting someone she failed to ever meet that mark.”

Mic’s voice shifted into a annoyed tone as she listed off examples

“Change her plan to just intimidating Balloon instead of hurting him, complements me, then forgets forever.”

“Steal from TestTube. Wow, neat, a plan that doesn’t hurt anyone! Proceeds to ignore when two people get sucked into a literal time vortex.”

“I flat ouT ASK HER NOT TO USE VIOLENCE, TESTTUBE’S DEAD THE MOMENT WE GET ON THE SHIP!”

Mic didn’t realize how loud she was raising her voice until Soap helped her lay down.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.”

“It’s not though.”

“It’s not okay but that doesn’t mean that it’s your fault.” Soap calmly replied, using a finger to swipe away the tears Mic hadn’t even noticed were dripping down her face.

“So that’s why Tube hates your guts huh, she didn’t see her did she?”

Mhm Mic mumbled, emotions too jumbled up to form words. Sitting up to hug Soap, letting her limbs go limp and just bawling out everything that had piled up in the last few months.

Soap didn’t say anything, just firmly hugged her back.

All Mic remembers after that is momentary bliss, and drifting off to sleep.


End file.
